Thom Yorke: Grammy Spokesman Extraordinaire

As are Kanye, Coldplay, and Lil Wayne

After a long, dark slumber, the Grammys may be waking up. The tiny gramophone awards have suffered a steady decline in interest (last year's broadcast was second to only 2006's all-time ratings low), but this year's surprisingly aware nominees -- Lil Wayne, M.I.A., Radiohead, Kanye, T.I.-- and an admittedly eye-catching ad campaign are poised to prevent more dismal numbers for the February 8 telecast. So maybe this year will only be the third-lowest ever. Fingers crossed.

Back to those ads. When I saw Thom Yorke's face hovering above some subway stairs near Central Park last weekend, I was struck-- why would our global hero lend his likeness to something as patently lame as the Grammys? Well, there's a trade-off. Part of Grammy's "Celebrate the Music That Made Us" campaign, the ad is made up of the names of songs that have influenced Mr. Yorke over the years, including Bjรถrk's "Unravel" ( web-famously covered by Radiohead ), David Bowie ("Ashes to Ashes") and Liars (""The Wrong Coat for You Mt. Heart Attack"). Grammy gets to use Thom; Thom gets to promote Liars song names. An even trade! (Check out a larger version of the Thom Yorke ad here .)

The same idea runs through the rest of the Grammy plugs, which feature Kanye West, Coldplay, Lil Wayne, Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, and, ugh, Lenny Kravitz. You guys were a Kravitz away from something pretty amazing! (If I had a nickel for every time I heard that one, etc.) TV ads narrated by these highly influenced artists will start running soon, too. (Via Idolator .)

Check out the ads starring Coldplay, Kanye, and Lil Wayne below. (Hey look, Kanye likes "The Eraser"! Is that going to be weird now at the Grammys because Thom didn't put Kanye songs in his collage? Hmm.)